Ddoo Gau Bee: Don't Go Beef

There are so many Korean restaurants in Coquitlam to try but a friend recommended Ddoo Gau Bee as her favourite affordable Korean restaurant.

Ddoo Gau Bee is located in the mall pictured below.

Ddoo Gau Bee

We were there around 5pm and there were only two other tables eating.

Since we don't speak Korean it took a bit of hand gestures and pointing to the menu to order our food. There were four of us but we weren't that hungry so we ordered three items.

The banchan consisted of kimchi and potato which I've had at other restaurants before but it also came with pan-fried firm tofu which I haven't had before and I liked it. 

Banchan: kimchi, tofu, potato

 This is a shrimp dish combo that includes fried dumplings. There were 8 pieces of battered shrimp tossed in sweet and sour sauce. The shrimp was hot and springy (unlike those mushy shrimp when they're not fresh). I also found the sauce appetizing.

The fried dumplings also came very hot. I couldn't read the menu so I'm not sure what was inside it but there seemed to be some beans, potato noodles, and vegetables.

This is another combo with tofu soup and salmon caviar rice. The tofu soup was fairly good with typical Korean broth, zucchini, tofu, and onions but I liked the rice more. It is Japanese rice (with the vinegar taste) with finely chopped lettuce, salmon caviar and some crunchy bits (kind of like Hickory Sticks) layered on top. When mixed well, every bite of the rice had a slight crunch which tasted great.

The third item we ordered, I had the highest expectations for because the pot stews I've had at previous Korean restaurants were always good even if the other food was mediocre. However, the Beef & Octopus one we ordered today was a disappointment.

It did not come looking especially appetizing. Everything was just piled into the pot of broth and there was no steam.

Beef & Octopus Pot Stew

Let's compare it with the photo on the menu. There's definitely a great discrepancy. I understand that food cannot look exactly like the perfect menu shots but this was just too big of a difference! There were missing ingredients in the picture that wasn't in our pot, like all the greens shown in the photo. 

Putting looks aside we stirred up the contents for it to cook. But even stirring was difficult because the ingredients were in chunks! All the beef and enoki mushrooms were in huge chunks. There were probably 4 huge chunks of beef (pictured below) that were not separated at all and therefore not cooked thoroughly nor easy to eat. 

It was like a packet of frozen hot pot beef slices you buy at the supermarket that was thrown directly into the pot without bothering to thaw or separate the pieces. 

We asked for mild spiciness but the broth just turned out bland. Definitely going back to Ma Dang Goul to eat pot stew.

Our bill came to $52.39 before tax which is a good price for dinner. The other food was good but since we ate the pot stew last and it was such a disappointment, that ruined my impression of the restaurant.